Fried Green Tomatoes with Chipotle Buttermilk Dip

As many of you know, I have a garden full of tomatoes.  Like totally full.  I planted 32 tomato plants and found many rogue ones sprouting up as well.  It's a jungle in there.  Since I got a late start planting, as many of us did due to heavy rains and cool weather, I didn't have any freshly ripened red tomatoes by mid-July as I normally do.  Seeing these huge tomato tentacles with a million unripe tomatoes on them, screaming na-na-na-na-boo-boo, made me mad.  What did I do?  I fought back.

I marched my tush out into their territory and, with fists on hips, (silently) said a little, "Forget you.  I'm going to eat you now.  Even though you're not ready, I am."  I plucked a few of those big, hard, green orbs in a huff and turned on my heel and stormed back inside.  And with the acquired enemy material, I set off to make some Fried Green Tomatoes with Chipotle Buttermilk Dip.

My husband had never eaten fried green tomatoes until that night.  The poor soul grew up in California so had never experienced this southern delight.  Truth be told, we northerners didn't partake either, but I had at least eaten them before.  Each time I had consumed these gems, I liked them but knew they could be better.

The tartness of the unripe tomato comes out warm and silky after frying.  The contrast in textures is unreal - the creamy tomatoes paired with the crunch of the coating is to die for.  Add a spicy chipotle buttermilk dip and you're set for an evening of pure southern deliciousness.

So for those of you who still have green tomatoes mocking you from your garden, or are salivating so greatly at the thought that you're planning on donning a ghillie suit and raiding your neighbor's garden, try this out. You won't be disappointed.

Fried Green Tomatoes with Chipotle Buttermilk Dip
Serves 2 for a meal ~or~ 4 for a side

1-1/2 lbs. green tomatoes (4-5 large)
2/3 c. cornmeal
1/3 c. flour
1-1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2/3 c. buttermilk
1 egg
2 c. vegetable or peanut oil
3 large chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
1 t. buttermilk
1/2 c. sour cream
pinch Kosher salt

Slice tomatoes 1/4" thick.  Place flat on a paper towel-lined baking sheet.  Cover with another layer of paper towels and let sit 20 minutes.  Pat dry.

Meanwhile, zip 1/3 cup cornmeal in a food processor until ground finely.  Mix ground cornmeal, cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne in a shallow dish.  In another shallow dish, whisk 2/3 cup buttermilk and egg.

One at a time, dip a tomato slice in the buttermilk mixture, then in the cornmeal mixture, pressing to adhere. Place on clean baking sheet as you continue with the rest.

Heat oil in large skillet to 350*.  Fry the tomato slices in the oil, being careful not to crowd the pan.  They will fry about 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown.  Place on a rack set inside baking sheet.  Feel free to place in a warm 200* oven while you fry the rest.

Mix the chipotles, buttermilk, sour cream, and pinch of salt in a small bowl.  Thin with additional buttermilk if you'd like.

Recipe adapted from Cook's Country 

Corn Chowder

This summer my addiction to corn has reached new heights.  I've eaten so much corn this season I'm pretty sure I'm single-handedly supporting the local farmers.  I've had friends from the past and co-workers emailing me corn recipes (all of which look delicious).  The old lady who sells corn at the end of her farm's driveway has become my new best friend.

When I lived in France, I craved corn something fierce.  Maybe it was my Indiana roots calling me.  Or perhaps it's because so many French people see corn as only a salad topping or feed for the pigs.  I've since made up for losing those 3 years of daily corn.

Summer and hot soup don't really seem to go together.  However, there is nothing better than farm-fresh sweet corn in a steaming bowl of Corn Chowder on a stormy night.  We pair it with a crusty baguette (but then again we pair almost everything with bread).  This chowder is thick and rich and very corny.  So many chowders are overwhelmed by potato flavor, but not this one.  The trick is (gasp!) pureeing canned corn and adding in fresh from-the-cob corn for the, well, fresh corn flavor.  You'll also use the naked cobs to thicken the chowder.

Corn Chowder
Serves 6-8

6 ears corn
2 (15 oz.) cans whole kernel corn, drained (I like Libby's Organic)
5 c. low-sodium chicken broth
5 slices center-cut bacon (or 3 regular)
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. red potatoes, scrubbed and diced 1/2-inch
1 c. heavy cream
4 scallions, sliced thin

Cut kernels from cobs.  An easy way to do this is to cut off one end, set the cob upright, and carefully slice kernels off.  Keep both the kernels and cobs.

Puree the cans of corn in a blender with 2 cups of chicken broth until smooth.

Cook bacon in Dutch oven until crisp.  Transfer bacon to paper towel-lined plate. Cook onion, corn kernels, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in the bacon grease until softened and golden.

Add potatoes, corn puree, remaining 3 cups broth, and cobs to Dutch oven and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.  Remove and throw away cobs.  Stir in cream, scallions, and bacon.  Season to taste.

Recipe adapted from Cook's Country June/July 09

Stuffed Peppers

I'm sorry.  I apologize for this super-long hiatus in posting.  Life has been, shall we say, really crazy lately. I've barely had time to brush my hair, let alone cook, photograph, and blog about some amazing foods.  I feel bad about the time that has passed since our last encounter.  It's way too long in my book, really.  Oh, FKS blog, how I've missed you.

As some of you know, I've started working again.  This was totally unplanned and quite the surprise.  I really love my job but working coupled with three kids, soccer practice and games, homecoming dances, band rehearsal and gigs, HOA duties, and just basically having a life is a difficult balance for me.  I don't know how you people do it.  I know there are bloggers out there who work full time, have 7 kids, a spouse, and a house full of animals and still manage to post 5 days a week.  Good luck to them and their blood pressure.

So here we are with a fantastic recipe for stuffed peppers.  I actually had never eaten them until I made this recipe.  Therefore, I don't have a great control for what they're supposed to taste like.  All I know is that these are really good.

The peppers are creamy and silky.  The stuffing is hearty and flavorful.  The sauce tastes like it's been simmering on Grandma's stove for 15 hours.  The best part is they cook in the slow-cooker for hours until perfection.  Really delicious on a chilly autumn evening.  It appears I've really been missing out all these years.

Stuffed Peppers
Serves 4

4 bell peppers - red, orange, and/or yellow
1-1/2 c. low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 c. arborio rice
8 oz. hot Italian sausage, casings removed
2 onions, chopped fine
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/8 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
2-1/2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese (1-1/4 c.)
2 T. chopped fresh basil

Slice off the top half-inch of the peppers.  Seed the inside of the pepper cups.  Chop the pepper tops, excluding the stem.  In a large microwavable bowl, microwave the broth and rice for 13-15 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, cook the sausage in a large non-stick skillet until browned.  Drain, reserving fat in skillet.  Put sausage in the large bowl with the cooked rice.

Add onion and chopped pepper to skillet and cook until browned, 8-10 minutes.  Add garlic, oregano, pepper flakes, and season with salt and pepper.  Cook 30 seconds.  Add tomatoes, bring to a boil, and remove from heat.

Mix 1 cup of sauce and 1 cup cheese with the rice and sausage.  Pour the rest of the sauce into the slow-cooker.  Using a skewer, poke 4 holes in the bottom of each pepper cup.  Fill each one with the sausage mixture.  Place in slow-cooker.  Top each pepper with the remaining cheese.  Cover and cook on low for  4 to 4-1/2 hours until peppers are tender.

Once done, remove peppers to a plate.  Stir in the fresh basil to the sauce in the slow-cooker and serve with peppers.

Recipe from Cook's Country August/September '11

Lentils with Carrots & Onions

I'm sort of obsessed with Pinterest.  I realize I am not alone in this either.  There are a million zillion people on it, pinning all sorts of things such as crafts, home decor, and of course food.  And now I have a to-do list about 7 miles long, complete with projects and ideas I found on Pinterest.

Apparently there is a "male" version of Pinterest (not that guys aren't on Pinterest - pretty sexist if you ask me) called Manteresting.  You don't pin, you nail.

Looking at so many fixer-upper pins on Pinterest, I could get really excited about reupholstering a chair that someone found in a dumpster.  However, I have never dumpster dived, and (fingers crossed) will never do so.  Thus, all my fun little projects have little hope of ever actually getting done.  And I run the risk of becoming a hoarder like the ones on the shows where they seem to always have a lot of cats and a Big Mouth Billy Bass among the piles of old flannels and 14-year old issues of Women's Day.

Per usual, this has nothing to do with the recipe below.  Just typing as I think.

Back to the food (who cares about my thoughts on Pinterest?)...

This meal is a warm, stick-to-your-ribs kinda food. It has a slight Indian feel to it, but you can always leave out the Garam Masala if you want.  By the way, Garam Masala is available at the supermarket in the spice section - McCormick's makes a good one.  I like a lot of vinegar at the end to add a tartness.  Serve with crusty bread or naan.

Lentils with Carrots & Onions
Serves 6 for a meal

2 large yellow onions, chopped
4 large carrots, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes
1 cup red lentils
3 teaspoons Garam Masala
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
red wine vinegar, for garnish

Heat a bit of olive oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add carrots and saute for 2 minutes.  Add onions and saute.  Cover pot and cook until the onions are slightly browned, stirring every once in a while.  Add the garlic and cook another minute.

Meanwhile, pour the tomatoes and juice into a bowl.  Using your hands, carefully squeeze the tomatoes, breaking them up into bite-sized pieces.  Pick over the lentils for any rocks or ugly ones.  Rinse.

Now add the garam masala, cumin, and thyme to the onion mixture.  Season to taste.  Allow to cook for a minute.  Add the tomatoes and juice, lentils, and broth.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, for about 40-50 minutes or until lentils are tender.  Check it occasionally to make sure the liquid hasn't evaporated.

Once cooked, stir in the cilantro.  Serve with red wine vinegar at the table.  I like a pretty big splash in mine, to cut the sweetness of the onions and carrots.

Serve with naan or crusty bread.

Tabouleh

Also known as Tabbouleh and Tabouli, this is a super-refreshing Arab dish.  It's typically eaten as part of a mezze, which is sort of like a tapas thing served in a spread of several small dishes.

Changing an original recipe could be looked at as either amazingly awesome or incredibly blasphemous.  On one hand, we are not limited by conventional "must do it like this" ways and are free to tweak and twist ingredients and foods to fit our own likes and dislikes.  However, there is definitely something to be said for preserving the history of hundreds of years of culinary tradition.

Either way, Tabouleh is a really yummy salad or side or main dish.  It's especially good in the summertime when the tomatoes and cucumbers and parsley are so good it makes me want to slap my Granny.  (I don't really want to slap my Grandma.  For those of you who have not heard that expression, it's a southern thing).

Here's the thing - you can change so many of these ingredients to suit your own palette, it can only be delicious to you.  Some people use green onions instead of red.  You can also leave the mint out if that's too strange to you.  There are recipes that have more of a parsley base and the grain is the addition, but I prefer the grain as the base.  If you don't like Quinoa, you can use the traditional bulgar, or even couscous.

For this batch, I found I was nearly out of Quinoa so I supplemented with some whole-grain couscous.  Play around and let me know what you like the best!


Tabouleh

1 c. quinoa
2 c. water
3/4 c. small diced red onion, or about 1/2 a medium onion
1/4 c. lemon juice, or juice from 1 lemon
1 cucumber, peeled and small diced
4 roma tomatoes, seeded and small diced
3/4 c. fresh minced parsley
1/4 c. fresh minced mint leaves
4 T. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

In a large bowl, mix the red onion and lemon juice.  Allow to sit (the lemon juice helps to cut the sting of the onion) while you prepare the rest.

Bring quinoa and water to a boil.  Turn down heat and simmer on low, covered, for 15 minutes.  Stir and re-cover, and set aside off heat for 5 minutes.  Bring to room temperature and fluff with a fork.

Mix all ingredients, including the onion/lemon juice mixture and cooled quinoa.  Serve as a side dish, or with pita bread, or in a toasted pita half.

Smoky Cheddar Cornbread Poppers

These Smoky Cheddar Cornbread Poppers were a huge hit at a recent cook-out we hosted.  And it wasn't  just because everyone was starving.  They are a great alternative for those who do not eat meat (moi) or who do not like cream cheese (my cousin Chad).

If you're a loyal reader, you know about Chaddy Choo Choo.  If not, you can learn about Chad (and see photos!) here.  He's like my brother, really.  We look alike, we laugh alike, we think alike, and we eat alike.  And he is one of only a small handful of people who can send me into a painful, ugly, breath-stealing belly laugh.  He's truly one of my very best friends in the world.  I think it's really saying something when you would still be friends with the people in your family even if you weren't related to them.

At the cook-out (or "barbecue" as they say here in the south, even if it doesn't involve any sort of slow cooked animal or coleslaw), I made poppers from a recipe I found thru Pinterest.  It is on a site called Oh Bite It.  Here's a link to her original recipe.  Chad and I found them to be pretty but really bland, so we experimented until we found what we think is a perfect balance of sweet heat, corn, and spice.

In this recipe, I've listed a boxed cornbread mix as an "ingredient," but feel free to make your own from scratch.  I use Krusteaz brand, and it is (I think) a 15 oz box.  I prefer the regular cornbread mix but you can use the honey cornbread flavor if you like sweet heat.

Smoky Cheddar Cornbread Poppers
Makes 30-40 appetizers

15-20 jalapenos (depending on the size)
1 box cornbread mix (I use Krusteaz)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ancho chili powder
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. salt
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1-1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided
chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 400*.

Halve jalapenos lengthwise.  Taking a small spoon (or even a grapefruit spoon), carefully scrape out the seeds and ribs.  Don't touch your eyes before washing your hands well or you'll be screaming bloody murder from the pain.

Make the cornbread mix according to boxed directions.  Add garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, and salt and whisk.  Stir in corn and 1 cup cheddar.

Fill each pepper half with cornbread mixture, paying attention not to overflow.  Place on sheet pan coated with cooking spray. (You may need 2 pans)

Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until cooked through.  Top with remaining cheddar cheese and broil until melted.

Baba Ghanoush with Cumin Chips

Last weekend, we went to a 40th birthday party for our good friend.  I went shopping for a cute shirt to wear to the party.

I put on these super cute black heels I've only worn once, and that was to a wedding in which I was the matron of honor, so my feet hurt regardless.

Ready to go.  I follow my husband out into the garage, catch my heel on the step, fall, and land on my bum.

I fell straight on my hiney, meanwhile twisting and turning my legs like one of those sticky octopus we used to throw on a window and watch crawl down.  It hurt badly.  And I have a black bruise the size of a softball on my tush to show for it.

Baba Ghanoush is a roasted eggplant dip that even those who don't like eggplant enjoy.  It's easy to make if you have a food processor.  It keeps well too, so feel free to make ahead (just toast the chips before serving).

Baba Ghanoush with Cumin Chips

Dip:
2 eggplant
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c. tahini (sesame seed paste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 T. olive oil
Handful parsley leaves
Salt & pepper

Cumin Chips:
2 packages pita bread
Olive oil
Ground cumin
Kosher salt

Pre-heat oven to 400*.  Prick eggplant all over with a fork and place on sheet pan covered in foil. Roast for 30-45 minutes, flipping once, until very soft and slightly browned.  Let cool a bit.

When cool enough to handle, trim stem end off and peel eggplant like a banana.  Roughly chop and place in food processor.

Add lemon juice, tahini, and garlic and puree until the consistency you like (smooth or chunky). Season with salt and pepper.  Stir in olive oil.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, cut pita bread into wedges like a pizza.  Place on sheet pans and toss with olive oil. You will need 2 sheet pans for 2 packages of pita bread.  Sprinkle with cumin and salt to taste (we like a lot of cumin so I probably use 3-4 tablespoons total).  Spread in one layer. bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp and golden.

To serve:  Drizzle baba ghanoush with additional olive oil and serve with cumin chips.